Real stories can be even more amazing and impactful than the craziest made-up tales. This is definitely the case with the romance of EGOT winner Barbra Streisand and Golden Globe winner James Brolin, especially for the band Aerosmith, who wrote a song that skyrocketed them to fame all because of this famous couple.
Streisand and Brolin went on a blind date in 1996 thanks to their friends. During dinner, she playfully teased him about his hair, which left Brolin feeling amazed. He even told Streisand how he wanted to cherish every moment with her, saying something that would inspire musicians for a long time.
James Brolin told Barbra Streisand something that would really connect with artists like Aerosmith.
Barbra Streisand is revealing many personal secrets in her new memoir, My Name is Barbra, which came out on November 7. The two lovebirds were chilling in bed one night, but Brolin wasn’t in the mood for rest.
“I don’t want to fall asleep,” He said that calm night. When Streisand questioned why, Brolin answered smoothly, .“Cause I’ll miss you.” Streisand was awed by the response. “What a beautiful, poetic thing to say,” she mused in her memoir. “And it captured a moment of complete bliss… physical, emotional, spiritual.” Streisand told this story in interviews soon after and it reached the ears of a certain songwriter and, eventually, Aerosmith.
Aerosmith became super famous after they sang a song about Streisand and Brolin’s love story.
In a 1997 interview on 20/20 with Barbara Walters, Streisand shared the story of Brolin’s touching and strong words to her that evening. Little did they know that famous songwriter Diane Warren was listening and took note of that moment. Warren is the genius behind Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me,” and LeAnn Rimes’s “How Do I Live,” and many more.
Warren used the conversation between Brolin and Streisand to write the song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which was sung by Aerosmith. The song was the theme for the movie Armageddon in 1998, which starred Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler, who is Steven Tyler’s daughter.
During the 71st Academy Awards, the song got nominated for an Oscar as Best Original Song. Warren made it for “Celine Dion or someone like that,” but Aerosmith did such a great job performing it that it became their first ever number 1 hit.
